


20 July, 1799

by Other_Pens



Series: Oak Tree Vignettes [5]
Category: The London Life (Roleplaying Game)
Genre: Childhood Friends, Childhood Sweethearts, F/M, Fluff, Picnics, Regency, Regency Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-06
Updated: 2016-09-06
Packaged: 2018-08-13 11:18:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7974913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Other_Pens/pseuds/Other_Pens
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Freddie and that infamous prenuptial picnic.</p>
            </blockquote>





	20 July, 1799

In the years that would follow, George Haverleigh would sometimes wonder which sight had afforded him the greater bliss--the moment he had turned to see Freddie in her wedding-dress, soberly gliding on tip-toe towards him under the watchful eyes of all their friends and family the little country church could possibly hold--or the evening prior, when she had run to him over the field, in an old untrimmed muslin, her only adornment her unfettered joy.  
  
"How on earth did you get away?" he asked, grinning as she had kissed him beneath the oak tree, where he had waited, hardly daring to hope she might appear. A bottle of wine, and a basket of bread, cheese, and apples waited for them among the roots, along with a fine cloth spread over the mossy earth.  
  
"Well I told several lies to several people, and I expect they saw through every single one," she laughed as they sat down, their fingers still twined together. "But what do I care, when tonight is tonight and tomorrow is _tomorrow_?"  
  
"Tomorrow..." He kissed her again, until they were both breathless. "It hardly seems real. What if I go to sleep and wake to find it's all been a dream?"  
  
"Then come and court me, tomorrow, and we'll start again," said Freddie, a trifle more pragmatic in her approach to dreams than her soon-to-be-husband. "For I cannot think of any world you might awaken to wherein I am not entirely in love with you."  
  
"I'd better not sleep a wink tonight, just in case," said George. "For this world suits me pretty well."  
  
"Then I'll not sleep, neither," said Fred. "And as the weather continues to be fine, we could just stay here until dawn."  
  
"A scandalous suggestion, Miss Bexley."  
  
"If you are so very shocked there is still time enough to jilt me."  
  
"You mistake me," said George, taking her hand and raising it to his lips. "Yours is a sort of scandal I rather like."  
  
"Oh?"  
  
"And I am quite prepared to prove it."  
  
"Are you really?"  
  
The look Freddie gave him rather caught George off-guard, though he had by no means been reserved in his teasing of his fiancée. It seemed she was taking him somewhat seriously, and now he must take himself seriously, too.  
  
"Um...may...be?"  
  
Frederica did not bother to fight the chuckle that bubbled up from the depths of her stomach, though her jangling nerves had also settled in that vicinity. She was no stranger to a certain sort of anxiety when it came to George Haverleigh, but those doubts had always been a part of her uncertainty as to whether her affections would ever be returned, and matched by his own regard for her. She was certain, now, of his love, and had been for some years. It was strange to feel nervous again in his presence. It consoled her somewhat to glance down and see that his hands trembled too, even just a little.  
  
"George, I..."  
  
How did she even begin to ask for what she barely had words to name? Freddie was not ignorant; but this was no book, neither dryly analytical, nor sordid and crude.  
  
What Frederica struggled to put into words, George read in the questions of her glance, and he had to kiss her, to buy himself time to think...but thinking was becoming increasingly more difficult, and kissing her did not help one bit.  
  
"I could never forgive myself if I took advantage of you...of this...of what we have, Freds..." he said, keeping his eyes shut so he wouldn't be distracted by the sight of her.  
  
"Advantage?" Freddie grinned. "I see. So, at what point in the ceremony tomorrow do I cease to be a china doll who stands upon the precipice of ruination?"  
  
"I _believe_ it to be the moment the vicar says we are 'man and wife'."  
  
"And until then we are only man and woman."  
  
" _Only_..." George had to laugh. "Never _only_ anything, with you."  
  
It was his warm humour that gave her courage, and Freddie tightened her hold on his hands.  
  
"Then make an honest woman of me tomorrow, George," she said, drawing his arms around her. "And I shall take all the advantage _you_ will allow me, now."  
  
"...are you sure? ... _here_?" George was mightily tempted, but not yet wholly convinced.  
  
"Do you mean to tell me you came to meet me here this evening with a blanket and a bottle of wine and not even the _slightest_ thought towards seduction?" she asked. "Heaven help me, it seems I've engaged myself to a simpleton!"  
  
Caught by her logic, George's grin was more than a little guilty.  
  
"I'm not such a fool that the thought hadn't crossed my mind..." he protested. "But those were fantasies, Freds..."  
  
Freddie reached out and patiently began to tug loose the knot in George's cravat.  
  
"Tell me yours, and I'll tell you mine."

* * *

Much as George's happiness was wrapped up in the moment he could declare before God and everyone that he and Freddie belonged to each other, _so long as ye both may live_ ; there was a stolen sweetness in that summer night when they had declared it to only themselves, which, for both of them, would always be unutterably precious, as dreaming became waking, and love came to life.


End file.
